The other thing with The Outsiders is that it is usually middle school reading and a lot of the kids will have read it.

I agree with House on Mango Street and I also would recommend Of Mice and Men. You know - everyone does not need to be reading the same book. You could select the theme and skills you want to cover and then assign books accordingly. Having everyone read the same book is hard when they are at such a variety of levels.

I absolutely loved The Outsiders when I read it as a girl in 8th grade. Out of my whole class (about 28 students) there were only 2 kids who didn't like it, one because of the gangs, the other becuase the slang was out of date; everyone else loved it though.

I LOVE teaching House on Mango Street with multi-level ninth graders as it's also a great way to have them do a project about them, very memoir based and you get to know your students really well that way. I have that project if you ever want me to send it to you. Also, my school that I teach at just taught my young adult novel Songs for a Teenage Nomad and did the song journal project with the ninth graders and it was really amazing - I got to come in and they read parts of them to me...it was a great day. All the curriculum for the book is available free on my website at www.kimculbertson.com. I have taught high school for ten years and I tried really hard to put in some user-friendly stuff together as a writer (as I will always, always be a teacher first).

I don't teach The Outsiders, but I do make it available to the kids.

And girls love The Outsiders. A few of them have told me it is because they've imagined the guys in their heads -- or mentally cast their favorite actors as the characters. (I haven't told them about the movie.)

Girls who like The Outsiders? Very much so. In fact, they are fascinated by the fact that Susan Eloise Hinton (heck with "SE") wrote it in high school at age 16. Then when I ask the kids whether they can tell it is written by a girl, they split. It's a hoot listening to their evidence -- Hinton's rather thorough description of the boys' hair and eyes, the fact that supposedly "tough" kids read Gone with the Wind (most definitely a chick book), and so forth. This spills over to discussions on sexism.

Many girls go on to read other Hinton books after this assigned one. Amazing. And boys like it because of the gang stuff.

Showing the movie just tops it off. The girls really go for Matt Dillon (as Dallas) and Rob Lowe (as Soda). The rest... nah.

So yes. I find this book universally admired by boys and girls and credit the author's sensitivity to it. I've used it without fail for six years now (ever since I was "promoted" from 7th to 8th grade). Try it. You'll like it.

I'm originally from MA - Reading, which is kind of funny considering my profession. I have only been up here for about four years. The Auburn Mall is doing a little better than when I first moved up here.

I have taught Animal Farm before and had considered that one. I thought The Outsiders might be too much of a guy book for a mixed audience. I want our first book to be whole class so I can get to know them and do some basics with them. Do you have girls who liked The Outsiders?

Hi Jacky. I teach 8th grade to your south (you know, the "flatlands" -- where those ever-popular folks with Mass. plates show up from). I have the 8 most recent teacher books I've read on my bookshelf called (of all things) TEACHING. Check it out. At the moment, my favorite by far is Jeff Wilhelm's Engaging Readers and Writers with Inquiry. Good stuff.

A great student-friendly book is SE Hinton's The Outsiders. For boys, try Touching Spirit Bear (Mikaelsen?) And believe it or not, lots of kids get into Orwell's Animal Farm. The whole pig deal cracks them up.

I see you're from "LA." I used to work at the Waldencrooks in the (now dying) Auburn Mall. We're talking when it opened. We're going BACK in time.

I teach freshmen English. Next year we are combining our bottom and middle level classes into just one class / section. This means I will have readers who are at fifth grade reading level all the way up to possibly 11th or 12th. I have always taught the middle and top level students, so I am a little worried about what to start the year off reading. I talked some with my literacy specialist and she suggested a easy to read book that the kids won't get bogged down on prior knowledge or vocabulary (so historical fiction is out pretty much), but something that we could really discuss the meaning. She suggested Staying Far for Sarah Byrnes by Crutcher. I thought that books structure was a little difficult with the time jumps and all.

I'm going to ask my librarian too, but do you all have any suggestions for a good start of the year book that fits with the description above?

Thanks :)